Paris
Paris (Mythology) Paris (also known as Alexander or Alexandros), was a child of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of the city of Troy. Just before his birth, his mother dreamed that she gave birth to a flaming torch. This dream was interpreted by the seer Aesacus as a foretelling of the downfall of Troy, and he declared that the child would be the ruin of his homeland. On the day of Paris's birth it was further announced by Aesacus that the child born of a royal Trojan that day would have to be killed to spare the kingdom, being the child that would bring about the prophecy. Though Paris was indeed born before nightfall, he was spared by Priam; Hecuba, too, was unable to kill the child, despite the urging of a priestess of Apollo. Instead, Paris's father prevailed upon his chief shepard, Agelaus, to remove the child and kill him. The herdsman, unable to use a weapon against the infant, left him exposed on Mount Ida, hoping he would perish there. He was, however, suckled by a she-bear. Returning after nine days, Agelaus was astonished to find the child still alive, and brought him home in a backpack to rear as his own. He returned to Priam bearing a dog's tongue as evidence of the deed's completion. He appears in Greek mythology (Homer's Iliad). Paris is probably the best-known for his elopement with Helen of Troy, Queen of Sparta, this being one of the immediate causes of the Trojan War. Later in the battle, he fatally wounds Achilles in the heel with an arrow, as foretold by Achilles' mother, Thetis. History The Judgment of Paris The Judgement of Paris was the cause for the result of the Trojan War to start between the Greeks and the Trojans. Paris was picked by Zeus, the king of the gods, to decide on who was the fairest goddess on Olympus - Aphrodite, Hera, or Athena, after a golden apple was dropped with, according to the story, these words on it: "For the fairest." There are many reasons on how Paris judged who was the true fairest goddess. One was that all three goddesses went naked to show him their beauty so he could decide which of them were fairest. The second was that at the same time, as the goddesses stood before him, they told him that if he decided on one of them they would give him: *Athena - the wisdom, and skills in battle to become the greatest warrior. *Aphrodite - the most beautiful woman on earth (which turned out to be Helen) *Hera - power over all the known world (Europe, Northern Africa, and Asia) Paris, however, thought that each of Athena and Hera's gifts to him if they were chosen to be the fairest were not so good because he knew that his father and the city of Troy were at peace and that there was no use of a war. So instead of picking Athena and Hera as the fairest of all, Paris picked Aphrodite because he thought her gift was the best. This made Hera and Athena deeply angered that Paris had not picked them and they angrily disappeared to Olympus, causing the rest of the gods to help each side of the war in the fight against and for Troy. The Trojan War Paris is the one who caused the Trojan War to occur with the Trojans fighting against the Greeks. Before the Trojan War began, he was appointed by Zeus to judge the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite on was the fairest, thus giving to the winner the golden apple. Each of them promised Paris something, Hera offered him power, Athena offered wisdom, and bravery to be the greatest warrior, while Aphrodite offered the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Troy. Thus he chose Helen. However, Helen was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta. When Paris eloped, or abducted Helen, Menelaus in accordance of an oath in which all of Helen's suitor before she was married swore before Tyndareus, Helen's father, and King of Sparta, to defend the marriage to the man that Tyndareus will chose for Helen, obligated them to bring her back to Menelaus. Some came voluntarily, like Diomedes, while others were forced like Odysseus. These men represented the power, wealth, and military prowess of Achaea. Thus, the whole might of Greece waged war with Troy, which included their generation's greatest heroes like Agammemnon, king of Mycenae (which was the chosen overall commander), Achilles, Diomedes, Odysseus, Philoctetes, and Ajax). In Homer's Iliad, it is said that the Trojan War took ten years of fighting between the Greek armies and the Trojan army. Nine of the ten were spent fighting between the armies but the Greeks didn't have an advantage since Achilles, a son of Thetis, spent his agreement on Agamemnon in his tent. The Tenth, however, had Achilles returning to help the Greek army fight when he heard that Paris' brother, Hector, had killed his best friend, Patroclus, while Patroclus was wearing Achilles' armor. Achilles then killed Hector in a duel around the walls surrounding Troy. After he killed Hector, Achilles preceded to tie Hector's mangled (and also lewd) body with ropes to his chariot and pulled Hector's body around the city walls for a long while. Then, under a short truce, Paris' father and king of Troy goes to Achilles to ask him to give him the body of Hector, his son. Achilles relents, and gives the dead Hector's body to him, but at the same time he cries. Category:Fanfiction character